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The game of cricket might have witnessed the umpteenth number of times but the recent contest between Saudi Arabia and China probably beats them all.

Both the teams are still finding their feet in the world of cricket but it seems China still have a very long way to go before they become a decent team. Well, at least the result of Saturday’s ICC World Cricket League Asia Region Division One match between the two sides proves it where the Chinese men were thrashed by a whopping 390 runs by the Saudi Arabia counterparts.

Batting first, Saudi Arabia, who are one of the favourites to win the tournament, scored a mammoth 418 in their fifty overs. Shahbaz Rasheed played a 56-ball 51-run knock while Mohammad Afzal completed a century from 91 balls with 13 fours and two sixes but the real fireworks that fired the team to the big total came from skipper Shoaib Ali who took only 24 balls to reach his fifty and was dismissed for 91 from just 41 balls with 10 fours and six sixes.

Feng Yu was the most successful bowler with figures of 5 for 89 in 10 overs while Ge Yongsheng was the most economical bowler with figures of 1 for 59 in 10 overs. Barring Yongsheng, no other bowler could manage an economy-rate of even under 8.

Now came the batting, and the Chinese batsman outdid their bowlers in terms of giving a miserable performance. The fact that 13 extras were more than the run scored by the highest scorer of the team tells the whole story as China were bowled out a paltry 28 runs in 12.4 overs.

The 28 all-out is seven runs worse off than Zimbabwe’s record low ODI cricket but since neither side has ODI status, it will not end up in the record books.

Only three batsmen managed to open their account with Zhuang Zelin and Zhang Peng (not out) being the joint highest scorer with 6.

An avid sports lover, i always wanted to pursue a career in football. But just like the millions out there i did not put in the hard work needed to achieve my dream and now i have become a fan instead of the player. Anyway, writing for sports has kept me closer to this field. One more thing, yours sincerely is a die-hard Liverpool fan.
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